I'll start with the Colosseum in Rome.
The competition didn't go all that well, but we had a lot of fun. I was actually pregnant at the time. Not being able to enjoy Italian wine was a bit annoying, but luckily Italy has many non-alcohol alternatives to the good life... gelato, for instance... I ate a lot of ice cream that week.
Ok, competition is done, and my husband and I had planned to spend a couple of days in Rome before returning home.
I remember probably annoying the living daylights out of my husband, and probably all of the other people on that train from Arezzo to Rome, as I was singing arias from Othello (not very loud though...Desdemona's prayer can't be bellowed)... Don't worry, I have a great voice, but I bet it would be considered noise to a person trying to sleep. But what's a romantic, pregnant, sort of crazy girl going to do? I was in Italy...looking at pine trees, the endless fields, and feeling in touch with Verdi
The next day we went to check out the Colosseum.
We had to fight off every "guide" in Italy, and according to these guides we would not be able to enjoy the inside as much without their aid... We took our chances.
Entering the Colosseum was like entering a dream world.
Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time know that Russell Crowe is my favorite actor and The Gladiator one of my favorite movies.
Now something very strange happened. I felt the whole place became silent even though there were thousands of visitors. And I'm not talking about that sort of "silent like the grave"-silence, no, far from it. I'm talking about the sort of silence I enter when I manage to enter my creative world. When I close out the world around me, being in the moment, being in the past, the present and the future at once. It was a rather incredible experience I must admit. So big, and yet so small. So contemporary (as it is there and we have the year 2012 (2004 at the time)), and yet so ancient, and futuristic even. The sun was shining, the temperature was pleasant, a slight breeze, and I needed nothing else at the time than just be. Be there, be silent, be present, simply BE.
Colosseum, and gelato (and being too pregnant to fit in my Bunad (a traditional outfit we were wearing for the competition), which was annoying) are the only things I remember from this trip.
And the Colosseum will stick with me forever.
A few years later my mother and I went to Cairo.
I know this is far fetched new-age crap, but I swear I felt history when I visited the Colosseum. I swear I felt history when I visited the Pyramids of Giza. And for that reason alone I hope I get a chance to return, both to Rome and to Cairo...
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